Straight No Chaser Kicks Off Holiday Season With "Text Me Merry Christmas (Feat. Kristen Bell)"; Song Premiered Yesterday via RyanSeacrest.com; Renowned Vocal Group to Perform Song on NBC's TODAY, Slated for December 5th; Massive "Happy Hour Tour" Rolls on Through April; Epic European Leg to Include 21 Shows in 14 Countries; "Text Me Merry Christmas (Feat. Kristen Bell)" Available Now at All DSPS

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Nov 18, 2014) - Atlantic Records recording group Straight No Chaser has unwrapped details of their festive new holiday single. "Text Me Merry Christmas (Feat. Kristen Bell)" is available now at all DSPs via a newly released version of their hit EP, "UNDER THE INFLUENCE: HOLIDAY EDITION" (see http://smarturl.it/UTIHolidayEdition).

A lyric video for the song premiered yesterday via RyanSeacrest.com, and is now available via the band's YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/user/sncmusic. In its first day online, the video garnered more than half a million views and was one of the top five videos on YouTube.

"The infectious song is filled with millennial slang and will fill you with merriment and joy," Buzzfeed said of the new track. Mashable called the song "a modern-day classic" and The Hollywood Reporter said, "Move over 'Baby It's Cold Outside,' there's a new holiday duet in town...'Text Me Merry Christmas'...is the perfect song for our technologically-dependent selves."

"Text Me Merry Christmas was so much fun to record," said Bell. "The lyrics are smart and creative, and musically it was a blast to sing a cappella with Straight No Chaser. I'm excited to be a part of what could be a Christmas classic for our current generation."

"We wanted a Christmas song that spoke to how informal communication has become," said Randy Stine of Straight No Chaser. "As soon as we heard the first demo it was apparent that it had to be a duet...the only voice we heard singing this was Kristen Bell, and she nailed every note and delivered the lyrics with the perfect comedic tone. We were hanging on her every word...when we weren't looking at our phones."

Emmy and Grammy Award winning writers David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger wrote "Text Me Merry Christmas." Javerbaum is a former writer and executive producer of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and Schlesinger, his frequent collaborator, is best known for his work with the band Fountains of Wayne.

Straight No Chaser will rejoice in the release of "Text Me Merry Christmas" by performing live on NBC's TODAY. The appearance is slated for the 9am hour on Friday, December 5th (check local listings).

Straight No Chaser is currently traveling the US on their biggest headline tour to date. "The Happy Hour Tour" continues through the year, culminating with a New Year's Eve spectacular at San Diego's San Diego Civic Theatre on December 31st and a visit to Hawaii, set for January 3rd at Honolulu's Hawai'i Theatre (see itinerary below). Full details -- including ticket information -- can be found at www.sncmusic.com/tour.

As if a massive 59-city, 67-show US tour weren't enough, "The Happy Hour Tour" is set to resume in late January 2015 for an eagerly awaited European leg. The epic trek will see Straight No Chaser performing 21 shows in 14 countries, among them Russia, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

Straight No Chaser's fourth full-length release, 2013's "UNDER THE INFLUENCE" saw the renowned vocal group reimagining a selection of their all time favorite songs alongside many of the superstar artists and undisputed music icons that made them famous. Produced by Mark Kibble (a founding member of the legendary a cappella group Take 6 and one of Straight No Chaser's primary influences), the album included unprecedented collaborations with some of popular music's best and brightest -- including Phil Collins, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Dolly Parton, Rob Thomas, Seal, Sara Bareilles, and Jason Mraz -- as Straight No Chaser put their distinctive and inimitable spin on songs known and loved the world over.

Long beloved for their trademark takes on Yuletide favorites, Straight No Chaser celebrated Christmas 2013 with an all-new cache of Christmas classics, titled "UNDER THE INFLUENCE: HOLIDAY EDITION." Among the EP's highlights were renditions of "White Christmas (Feat. Cee Lo Green)" and "Merry Christmas Baby (Feat. Otis Redding)," alongside new versions of standards like "Amazing Grace." The EP further included a timeless rendition of Paul McCartney's classic "Wonderful Christmastime" featuring vocals by McCartney himself. "Text Me Merry Christmas" will be a new addition to the EP starting today.